Tournament fighting watered down?

[gaijinboa]

I attended a Jiu jitsu tournament this past weekend having not done so in many years and I noticed an almost deplorable amount of technical flaws stemming from the emphasis on point gathering rather than technique application and submission attempts. Being from a different sort of BJJ school, my instructors had always geared our training towards self defense applications and Vale Tudo style combat, but showed techniques for sport BJJ as well and we had a sucessful team. The last competition I was in 4 years ago consisted of constant jockying for a submission by both parties and it seemed this weekend it was more about positional point earning with little emphasis on any submission from something other than a mount or off of a closed guard, specifically so as not to risk losing points. Points are irrelevant to me if I get the submission, right? Also, how would this appearent lack of aggressive fight ending translate to the full contact MMA arena as well as on the street? What do you guys here think...

[Floorismyfriend]

Your completely right.
I dont understand why people are trying to turn bjj into a sport instead of trying to further the self defense aspects of it.
Besides watching sports ju jitsu is like watching paint dry.

[Sonshu]

Money!

[Trent Tiemeyer]

As long as there has been competition there have been those who exploit the rules to the best of their ability. From point karate fighters who turn their face into a punch to gain a penalty, to UFC fighters whose only goal is to get their opponent stuck against the fence, to BJJ players who gain rear mount, and slide their hooks in and out to rack up points.

The thing is, they may win, but they are hurting the sport by not giving spectators anything worthwhile to look at.

[totality]

i'm not big in the bjj sport scene or anything, but i believe there was a rule change recently that has caused a shift towards emphasis on positioning...which is, of course, important, but it's important because you're trying to get the submission, NOT SOME FREAKING POINTS@!! points are stupid. i'll kill them! wait...not tangible object. oh well.

sorry
[/rant off]